Former F1 world champion Nico Rosberg couldn’t help but take the mickey out of Lewis Hamilton after the Mercedes ace lost out to teammate George Russell in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
It was yet another lacklustre performance by the Silver Arrows as neither of its drivers were able to clinch a podium finish.
Russell finished just outside the top-3 in fourth position, while Hamilton finished behind him in fifth.
The saving grace for Mercedes was the fact that both Ferraris finished behind them.
While this finish is an improvement on the part of the Silver Arrows compared to the season-opener in Bahrain, there is still a significant gap in terms of speed when pitted against Red Bull.
Hamilton is chasing an elusive eighth world championship, but the early signs suggest that Mercedes will need to make a miraculous recovery to allow him this opportunity in the current season.
That is perhaps why Hamilton looked downcast after the result in Jeddah during his post-race interaction with the media.
Rosberg explains Hamilton reaction
Rosberg has known Hamilton from his childhood days and possibly has the best gauge on the Stevenage-born driver. He explained why Lewis looked so downcast.
“That was just the ‘I got beat by my teammate’ face. That’s pretty simple,” he said.
Rosberg won his maiden world championship in a very close-fought battle against Hamilton during his final season in the sport and knows exactly how the British racer responds during such situations.
“George is the future world champion. This is a difficult one for Lewis to stay in front. We saw it last year, what an awesome season George did and George is continuing on that form once again.
“It’s going to be a big, big challenge, but let’s not forget Lewis is the best of all time so if there’s going to be someone who can beat George, then it will be Lewis.”
Rosberg still believes Lewis will be competitive for however long he continues to feature in the sport.
“It’s a little bit of a weakness that Lewis has that sometimes he’ll mentally get down on himself and lose a little bit of flow. But he comes back with a bang every single time so, dear George, don’t get too comfortable!”
Russell picked better car setup than Hamilton
Hamilton was asked by reporters why he had been beaten by his teammate.
The 38-year-old confessed that he had opted for the wrong car setup, but also took a veiled dig aimed at Russell.
“We work on that. There was like a 50-50 choice. I chose one way and he chose another.
“More often than not, the way Russell went is the wrong one. But it just happened to work. So I could only match his pace than be quicker this weekend.
“But I’ll work hard to make sure we are in a better place next time.”